


Academic Momentum

by Ononymous



Category: Deltarune (Video Game), Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Gen, Post-Deltarune Chapter One
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-07
Updated: 2019-06-07
Packaged: 2020-04-12 07:22:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,896
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19127290
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ononymous/pseuds/Ononymous
Summary: Kris and Susie try to knuckle down and make some progress on their group project. For a certain definition of "try".





	Academic Momentum

**Author's Note:**

> Original Suggestion: How about Kris and Susie just hanging out?

_Yongor the Sneering tensed his crimson chest, the straps of his breastplate at their limit, waiting for the blow to land. The malevolent candescent fist of Rolkeith the Quarrensponsible finally made contact, his dark power grappling with all its might to leave Yongor with an eldritch bane which would consume the remainder of his lifeforce and cast him to the Dark Lord Jerry. Yongor's very soul trembled as he glared into the onyx-black eyes of his diamond blue foe and former friend, feeling the curse beginning to take hold, but the rage at what he had lost filled him with new resolve, his horns suddenly surging in length as he tapped into new hellish strength. His razor claws drew blood as his fist clenched, ready for the counterstroke that would deal with Rolkeith one way or the other. Not that he took any joy in impending victory. He yearned to lay by the river with a dear friend, watching the world go by. But those days were over. With a roar of enough ferocity to wake the dead, his fist was swallowed by shadow as_

Bump. The book slid across the desk and fell onto the floor.

"Oi! tem waz working... REELY HARD!"

Concealed eyes looked down at the book on the floor. "Sure you were. Bloodfist the Bloody Fisted is definitely required reading this year."

"Iz for bonus reeding credit!"

"If you say so," growled Susie. "Keep your chair tucked in next time."

Temmie's face threatened to leap at her accoster. "keep ur MEANNESS to urself!"

A purple claw scratched the desk. Temmie's face retreated. Her egg remained still, full of worry. "Yeah, that's what I thought."

Pecking order established, Susie continued on to the other reading table. Temmie looked to where her book had fallen, to find it not there. It had returned to the table, a clawless hand in a green sleeve withdrawing from it.

"Oh, Krisp! many thanks! now back to workin' for coleg." Kris turned to follow Susie. "HARD!"

" **HEY!!!** " Roared temporary-cover-librarbian Undyne, much louder than anyone else had been. "Keep it down, ya punk!"

"...oh, soz..." 

Kris caught up to the table Susie was at. She'd deposited the two books she'd been carrying past Temmie, and was now examining the shelf behind her intensely. One by one, she grabbed another book, and another, and another. These weren't random choices. Every pick was deliberate and in pursuit of her goal. 

"Ooh, that one's nice and big," she said, adding it to the pile on the table. "An' that should be enough!" She sat down, feet on the table, and leaned back in her chair, confident Undyne wouldn't see her. Kris sat down with three other books and some paper while Susie fished in her jacket for something. She leaned a yellow box in Kris' direction, and at a shake of their head, took out a white stick and wedged it between her daggerlike teeth. Kris slid a book over to her, opened a second and started taking notes. 

"Ugh, this is such a boring subject for a project," grumbled Susie. "You'd think Alphys'd leave something cool to do. Just because we waited to the very last minute to pick a subject. Where's the justice?" 

Kris gave a shrug, continuing their notetaking. Susie sighed, and began thumbing her way through her own book, retaining maybe one word out of every ten, savouring her snack of choice as she gradually gnawed it down to a nub. 

"' _Glitter: An Aristotelian's Delight_ '. ' _Classic Ciders of Spiderville_ '. ' _Magical Weaving the Traditional Way_ '. Because college will give a crap about any of this." 

"Not the topic," said Kris, brusquely reciting what Alphys had said earlier that day, "but how you research it." 

"Nah, pretty sure it's the topic. And it sucks." Susie swallowed, licked her lips, then reached for another piece. "Why can't we just research our own topic." 

Kris moved on to a new sheet of paper. "Like?" 

"Like legends." Her large teeth were revealed by a growing smile. "Like the legend whispered among shadows. About how light and dark have lived in balance for millennia..." 

The soft scratches of Kris' pen stopped. "School's locked for the day." 

"Eh, I bet that ain't the only way in." Kris looked up at her for the first time. "Reckon some other unused rooms might lead down there. C'mon, I bet that fuzzy dork will be delighted to help us with this." 

Kris' faced was unchanged, but Susie felt like she had permission to try. They picked up the few books they'd actually been working with, and set off. They got all of ten feet. 

"There." 

Susie pointed to a closet at the end of an aisle. Its handle looked dull and dusty, untouched for untold time. 

"If anywhere in this joint is interesting, it's gotta be that, right?" 

As usual, Kris gave no verbal sign of whether they agreed. Instead they just walked up to the door, Susie following in triumph. She grabbed the handle. 

"Ready?" Kris nodded. "Now!" 

She yanked the door open and leapt in. A deafening clatter filled the air. Two brooms, a mop and a bucket with a dribble of foul smelling liquid tumbled onto the floor. Kris continued to watch as Susie struggled to climb out of her mess, a threadbare janitor shirt trying to restrain her. 

"Ah well," she said, undeterred by the failure, "wouldn'ta known if I hadn't tried. Let's-" 

" **NGAH!!!** " 

Blue hands seized two different shoulders and dragged the teens away from the scene of the crime. The riot act - including all amendments, subclauses and relevant judicial rulings - was read to them at the main desk. Scolded for disturbing the peace so loud it disturbed the peace. Temmie found it hard to read what Yongor and Rolkeith were doing. 

"...and if either of you punks do that again your parents will receive a phone call from the station, do I make myself clear?!" 

Susie tilted her head slightly, showing her hair to Undyne. "Can you yell at this part, officer? I don't think it's fully dry yet." 

Undyne didn't scowl at the backtalk. In fact, she grinned. "Fuhuhu! I like your spunk, kid. I was kinda like that at your age." 

"Sure you were. And then you got soft." 

Now she scowled. "I got _smart_. Yeah yeah, being stubborn is all well and good in high school, but stubbornness only goes so far. Once you run into someone who's actually trained, who's applied discipline to their life, it's like running into a brick wall. Hard work beats natural jerkness when natural jerkness hardly works. It takes a little discipline to really lay down the law." 

"If you say so. You should tell our teacher that." 

Undyne's brow furrowed. "You say that, young Miss Holiday said that when I saw her at the hospital, why does everyone think that about me and this teacher? Oh well, stay out of trouble anyway!" 

"Does not getting caught count?" 

"...I'm required to say no." Undyne turned to Kris. "And kid, it'll be your mom I call. Asgore's a good guy, but I think he's got enough on his plate right now. I ain't giving him an excuse to go easy on you. Capiche?" Kris nodded. "Good. Now scram!" 

The scramming lasted for about half a block. Soon both kids were leaning on a wall at an intersection. Susie was nibbling on another snack, but Kris was actually reading one of the books. 

"What," said Susie, "did your mom threaten you if you slacked off on this?" Kris looked away. "Oh. She really needs to let that rope go before she strangles you. Ugh, that new grocer keeps looking at us, it's irritating. QC's?" 

A light drizzle made Kris' mind up for them. Soon they were inside the bustling diner, watching the rain pick up steam. Catti came by with two cups, regarded the unlikely duo for a moment, then was called away by a young dragon complaining about his dinner not being golden enough. Susie dipped a white stick in her drink, dying it brown, and suckled on it. Kris held their cup close to their mouth, but didn't drink yet. 

"Well this is awkward," said Susie, unawkwardly. "You hung out with him here all the time, right?" Kris finally sipped to confirm. "Yeah, saw you with him a lot." She took a long draught. "Damn it, gimme one of those books." 

For once Kris looked surprised as she seized the book containing an Aristotelian's Delight, uncrumpled a ball of paper from her pocket and started copying the text. 

"Being grounded sucks," she mused aloud, "an' I bet your mom can actually enforce it way better than in my household. Remember back when Mister Gerson was giving an assembly and I painted his seat?" She shuddered. "She made sure I didn't do that again. Wouldn't want ya locked up, this town is boring enough. And if I went 'downstairs', the fuzzy dork would worry." 

An amused sniff caught her eye. Kris actually smiled. 

"Yeah, there you go," she said, proud of a job well done. "So he's visiting later, huh? Guess you'll be clinging to his tail like fleas." 

"I do _not_ have fleas!" 

The two looked at the speaker, a festive jumper with some blonde hair and two antlers poking through the neckhole. 

"Um, sorry," came a muffled reply, "I just hate being accused of that." 

"Good thing I wasn't talking to you, honour student," muttered Susie. 

"I know I know, I overreacted!" lamented Noelle. "I just heard you talking about the project and I thought gosh, that's so unlikely of you and-" 

"And what?" growled Susie. "You wanna make something of it?!" 

"No! I just thought... it was kinda sweet..." 

Kris looked as stoic as ever. Susie joined them in this expression. An eye surfaced from the jumper, but quickly retreated. 

" _WellanywayIgottagotalktoBerdlyaboutourownprojecthaveanicedaybye!_ " And she was gone. 

"Weirdo," said Susie. "Oh look, she left some chalk behind. More for me." 

The two of them finally got down to concerted effort at notes on the project. Kris wrote furiously, without saying a word. Susie wrote furiously, saying very many words. The rain had finally ended by the time they actually looked at each other, but the sky was just as dark. Their drinks hadn't even been finished, but remained just as warm as when first served, as only QC's could do. Paying up, they stepped out onto the darkening street. 

"Welp, this is a start," said Susie, as if she were the driving force, "but we'd better knuckle down. Wanna get someone to check it over tomorrow 'downstairs'?" 

"...sure." 

"That's the spirit. I'll grab the paint for that big throne." 

Susie found herself making direct eye contact with Kris. She felt a chill down her spine. 

"Nah, just kidding," she bluffed. "Here are my notes. Figure you won't forget them as I don't have a bag. Better get home before my folks call Undyne again. Later!" 

She marched off, not a care in the world. Kris examined her notes for the day. For such a cavalier attitude to academics, her handwriting was surprisingly neat. Like one who had learned manners and chose to ignore them, rather than one who never learned. They looked back into the diner at where they had sat, memories swirling, a glint of scarlet beneath their hair unseen by anyone. 

**Author's Note:**

> Let me know what you think, and thanks for reading!


End file.
